On a night in which Columbus East’s leading scorer, Koryn Greiwe struggled to find her stride offensively, it was up to one of her teammates to step up and answer the call.
Leah Bachmann did just that, leading the Olympians to a 48-42 Hoosier Hills Conference victory over visiting Madison.
Bachmann led the way for East (8-5) scoring 15 points and securing nine rebounds on the night. She also had help from Saige Stahl, who scored nine points of her own.
“I think we got off to a slow start, but this shows we are a well-rounded team,” Bachmann said. “We have some good post players with Gabby (Dean) and Saige and some great shooters in Maeleigh (Roberts) and Albany (Speer).”
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Madison (4-7) jumped out on top quickly 5-0 before the Olympians got on the board with a Bachmann 3-pointer. From there, neither team led by more than two points for the remainder of the quarter with the Cubs holding an 11-9 lead after one.
East bounced back quickly by starting the second quarter with a 7-0 run to take an 18-13 lead. Madison came charging back to tie the game at 19-19 midway through the period. A quick spurt by the Cubs saw them take 27-22 lead into the locker room at halftime, equaling their biggest lead of the first half.
The Olympians and coach Danny Brown made a defensive adjustment at halftime and came out in a 2-3 zone to begin the second half. This slowed the Cubs down, specifically Jade Nutley, who had found success under the basket in the first half.
Brown discussed the defensive move.
“The zone gave us better coverage and kept them from driving to the basket,” Brown explained. “We have long, formidable wings when we go to zone, and it also kept (Nutley) from driving to the basket.”
East was able to take the lead at 28-27 on a Greiwe layup with 3:50 left in the half, but it was short lived. A three-point play by Nutley tied the game at 32-32 that started a 9-0 run by the Cubs to take a 38-32 lead, but a 3 pointer by Roberts at the end of the quarter cut the deficit in half heading into the fourth.
The Olympians absolutely clamped down defensively in the fourth quarter, allowing the Cubs to score just four points. Just as importantly, the defense allowed East to go on a 9-0 run of its own and take a 45-40 lead with just 1:45 left in the game.
“They were moving the ball pretty well against our man-to-man, so Coach Brown switched us to the zone, and I think it slowed them down quite a bit, especially in the last quarter,” Stahl said.
From there East sealed the victory at the free throw line. In the quarter, the Olympians hit just one field goal but were 10-14 from the charity stripe to earn the important conference win.
“We work on free throws every day in practice, and tonight it paid off,” Bachmann said.
“We play a very tough schedule, and the HHC is one of the toughest conferences in the state,” Brown said. “There are no easy games in this conference. It doesn’t matter who you play.”
